Marriage equality cases before UK Privy Council (Feb. 26, 2021)

Two historic cases before the UK Privy Council's Judicial Committee could set a precedent for same-sex marriage across the UK’s Crown Dependencies and other Overseas Territories, as well as a host of former territories. The Privy Council the final court of appeal for many Caribbean jurisdictions.

The Council is hearing two historic cases relating to marriage equality from Bermuda and the Cayman Islands -- though the legal challenges are distinct in each case. In CI same-sex marriage is expressly prohibited, and a couple is challenging the prohibition. In Bermuda same-sex marriages were permitted starting in 2017 by a Supreme Court ruling, but were rapidly abolished by Parliament. (Liverpool School of Law and Social Justice, Royal Gazette, Cayman News Service, CMC) 

On Thursday the Privy Council reserved judgment regarding the Bermuda's government appeal against same-sex marriage, will be handed down at a later date. (Bermuda Real) The Privy Council is expected to make a ruling within weeks on the Cayman Islands appeal. (Cayman Marlroad)

Covid-19

• Pfizer has been accused of “bullying” Latin American and Caribbean governments in Covid vaccine negotiations and has asked some countries to put up sovereign assets, such as embassy buildings and military bases, as a guarantee against the cost of any future legal cases, according to a report by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. In the case of one country, demands made by the pharmaceutical giant led to a three-month delay in a vaccine deal being agreed. For Argentina and Brazil, no national deals were agreed at all. Pfizer has been in talks with more than 100 countries and supranational organisations, and has supply agreements with nine countries in Latin America and the Caribbean: Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Peru, and Uruguay. The terms of those deals are unknown.

• Caribbean and Latin American countries, already hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic, are now victims of slow inoculation campaigns, reports Bloomberg. Much of the Caribbean and Central America are still weeks away from kicking off their campaigns.

• "Vaccine equity has become Covid-19's defining issue," write Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Keith Rowley and WHO head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in CNN. "To date, richer countries with bigger budgets have struck bilateral deals with vaccine manufacturers, securing hundreds of millions of doses before other countries have had a chance. This has sent a worrying message that the health of those in developed countries is worth more than those in other parts of the world."

• 12.8 percent of Jamaica's population is currently food insecure, equating to some 400,000 people, double the pre-pandemic projection for 2020. Food insecurity in Jamaica was primarily driven by COVID-19 restrictions and economic conditions as opposed to supply-side factors. Households with children in them were hit the hardest. (Forbes)

• A coronavirus vaccine developed by Cuba is about to enter final testing stages, if it is successful the country could be on the path to mass inoculation and vaccine exports by the end of the year, reports the New York Times. The vaccine, dubbed Sovereign 2, could also become a tourist pull, as officials have said the island could offer vaccinations to all foreigners who travel there. 

• Cuban scientists say the government will probably give away some doses to poor countries, in keeping with its longstanding practice of strengthening international relations by donating medicine and sending doctors to address public health crises abroad, reports the New York Times.
• Vaccine opponents in the Caribbean, including some churches and trade unions, risk prolonging the pandemic in the region, argues Sir Ronald Sanders. (Caribbean News Service)

Money

• Saint Lucia was officially removed from the European Union's list of non-cooperative jurisdictions, for tax purposes, earlier this month, after a three year process of reforms aimed at compliance, reports Asberth News Network. Barbados was also removed from the controversial list, while Dominica was added. The Cayman Compass notes the list has been criticized within the EU as being too lax, while other experts have argued it unfairly targets small island nations in the Caribbean and the Pacific which have no relevant financial services sectors. (See Jan. 28's Just Caribbean Updates, also St. Lucia Times)

• Transparency International asked the U.N. General Assembly to set a new global standard for transparency in company ownership. The appeal to end all anonymous shell companies has been endorsed by almost 700 signatories from 120 countries, reports Kaieteur News.
  

Human Rights

• Indigenous communities in some of the world’s most forested tropical countries have faced a wave of human rights abuses during the Covid-19 pandemic as governments prioritize extractive industries in economic recovery plans, according to a new report produced by the NGO, Yale Law School researchers and the School of Law at Middlesex University London. (Guardian)

• Oxfam will no longer be subject to strict supervision by the Charity Commission for England and Wales, following “significant” reforms prompted by allegations that staff working in disaster zones, including Haiti, sexually abused children were not fully disclosed. (Guardian)

• Land tenure insecurity is a widespread problem in Guyana and there is a lack of protection for indigenous peoples' customary tenure systems, according to a study by the Amerindian Peoples Association, based on a participatory research assessment that will help frame policies to better protect land rights.

Public Security

• Significant safety measures weren't enough to prevent a brazen kidnapping during a movie shoot in Port-au-Prince, in which two Dominicans and a Haitian translator were abducted. A case "that has taken Haiti’s kidnapping epidemic from being a Haitian affair, to an international one," writes Jacqueline Charles in the Miami Herald.
• A total of 212 killings were recorded island-wide in Jamaica so far this year -- a six per cent increase over the comparative period last year, reports the Jamaica Gleaner.
  

Democratic Governance

• "Some coups are obvious, like the recent military takeover in Myanmar. Others are murkier. What constitutes a coup d’état is all too often in the eye of the beholder," writes Farah Stockman in the New York Times, about Haiti's current political crisis. (See Feb. 8's post.)

Anti-Colonialism and Diasporas

• There are five inhabited US territories: American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. The Guardian explores the possibilities for Puerto Rican statehood getting approved in the U.S. Congress, where the measure is likely to face opposition from Senate Republicans.

Climate Justice

• The World Bank is working with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on ways to factor climate change into the negotiations about reducing the debt burdens of some poor countries, World Bank President David Malpass told Reuters.

• Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne called for an urgent response from the international community regarding climate change impact on small island developing states. As a warming world brings growing threats to lives and stability in vulnerable island states, “what international plan and system would my country have recourse to, in the aftermath of such an attack to our peace and security?” asked Browne at the United Nations Security Council. (Reuters, Caribbean News Service)

• Climate change can further isolate LGBTQI people in the Caribbean, reports Erasing 76 Crimes, looking at the specific case of Sint Maarten after Hurricane Irma in 2017.

LGBTQI and Gender

• Tina Brown --  dubbed A.B. in a petition to the IACHR challenging Jamaica's sodomy law -- writes about how the archaic regulations threatened her life in Jamaica. "Both S.H. and I filed the petition anonymously, because we had to continue living on the island and feared a violent backlash." (Caribbean News Service)

• Feminism in Cuba: a variety of opinions in Afrocubanas La Revista, and here.

Culture

• How Trinidadian activist, writer and editor Claudia Jones invented London's legendary Notting Hill Carnival in January 1959, after a series of protests by Black Brits in areas of England, including Notting Hill, against police violence -- New York Times.

• Jamaica’s ever-resilient creatives are fighting back against Covid-19, writes Emma Lewis at Global Voices. Non-profit Kingston Creative's efforts to keep Jamaica’s artists, dancers, musicians and writers afloat and producing new work received a major boost through a partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

• Dancehall: A Reader on Jamaican Music and Culture contextualizes the emergence of the globally popular dancehall genre, while tracing the complex and often contradictory aspects of its evolution, dispersion and politics. (Repeating Islands)
  

Events

23 February

• Aica Caraïbe du Sud’s series “In the process”, with Caribbean artists Gwladys Gambia, Kelly Sinnapah-Mary, Louisa Marajo, and Tessa Mars, along with independent curators Barbara Prezeau-Stephenson and Matilde dos Santos. (Repeating Islands)

28 February

• Jamaican director Esther Figueroa’s 2019 documentary film “Fly Me to the Moon” will be aired as part of the Honolulu African American Film Festival. (Petchary's Blog)
  

15 April

• Extractivism and Climate in the time of COVID: Views from the Caribbean -- Center for Human Rights and Global Justice

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